TECH

Muslim minority does slave labor in China for Apple, Lacoste and BMW

A report released this week by the Australian Institute of political strategy (ASPI) denounced the imprisonment of more than 80,000 members of the uiguri Muslim minority. According to the document, they would be forced to work under conditions of slavery in factories that supply products for major world brands.
Apple, Sony, Samsung, Microsoft, Nokia, BMW, Mercedes and Jaguar are just some of the 80 or so companies accused of signing, directly or indirectly, contracts with Chinese suppliers who would be using slave labor. Fashion brands such as Adidas, Lacoste, Nike, Uniqlo, Gap or Puma are also on the list.
Several companies quoted reacted immediately to the charges. "None of the suppliers mentioned work directly for Volkswagen,” the German automaker stated. Already compatriot BMW said "cannot comment on the content of the report" , but assured that its service providers "must apply the same rules with their own suppliers". Apple said that " everyone in your production line is treated with dignity and respect”. However, many companies mentioned only stated that they cannot control the working conditions of all their outsourced suppliers.

According to the report, entitled 'Uyghurs for sale' (Uyghurs for sale), the factories reported work thanks to the work of Uyghurs who were arrested by Beijing.

Persecuted minority
The Uighurs are a persecuted Muslim minority in China, accused by the Government of inciting a form of separatism and religious extremism in the country. After being arrested, they are usually transferred to the so-called” reeducation camps", presented by the Chinese government as vocational training centers. According to the United Nations, between 20 and 30 million uiguris Muslims have already been taken to camps that, according to human rights organisations, practice political indoctrination.
According to the Australian Institute, about 80,000 members of the minority were arrested between 2017 and 2019 in the Xinjiang region. They were then transferred to other parts of the country, among them Qindao (East), where they were forced to work in the factories denounced by the ASPI.

Source: www.rfi.fr